Since 2004, the British Red
Cross has funded a Mongolian Red Cross project providing assistance
to elderly and isolated people.
The community-based project
was begun to address the severe hardships faced by the urban poor living
in the Mongolian capital, Ulanbataar, including nomadic herder families
who have lost their animals during severe winters.
Many elderly clients are bedridden
and many families live in areas that are difficult to access. Often,
large numbers of people live in 'gers', traditional felt tents with
a fuel stove and limited furniture. Many households are completely isolated
during the winter months.
Backed by British Red Cross
funding and training, volunteers visit beneficiaries at least twice
a month to assist with household and personal chores, bringing food
and medicine, helping with medical visits, referrals and registration
to claim state benefits, or simply be a friend.
Close relationships between
beneficiaries and volunteers have developed since the start of the project,
which also runs social day care centers, where Mongolians can go to
a place where they know they will be welcomed, cared for and befriended.
The social care program is
now reaching around 2,500 vulnerable people. Last autumn it received
a new injection of funding from the Land Rover G4 Challenge, as part
of the partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies, which aims to generate £1m over the course
of the next two Challenges.
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